Review of Laurence Anyways (2012) by Sam G — 28 May 2013

Xavier Dolan is one of the most interesting and convincing contemporary filmmakers. Only 24 years old, the French Canadian director has already directed an impressive debut feature "J'ai tué ma mère," and a completely perfect cinematic masterpiece "Les amours imaginaires". His third film "Laurence Anyways" is near-perfect as well.

The movie tells the story of Laurence (Melvil Poupaud) and Fred (Suzanne Clément) a succesful couple in their 30's living in the economic boom of the late 80's. Then, on his birthday, Laurence drops a bomb on Fred. He reveals that he has lived his life hiding the fact that he is indeed a woman living in a man's body, a fact he has finally decided to confront. Despite this, Fred decides to stay with Laurence and support him through his transition. The person she loves is the same Laurense anyways, right?

The film takes us through the 90's into the dawn of the new millennium, following Laurence and Fred and their impossibly stormy and emotional relationship that changes form but refuses to let the couple go. Ultimately, Laurence being transgendered is easily surpassed by deeper conflicts and differences between the protagonists; gender becomes obsolete as personalities in all their weaknesses rise above normative behavior. "Laurence Anyways" is pointing out that all our identities are in a flux and that most of our transitions don't have a clear direction.

Dolan directs like no one else. His visual style is unbeatable, still borrowing the best of such masters as Won Kar-wai and Stanley Kubrik and molding something new and unique out of that inspiration. Every frame is like a painting, sometimes daring and even grotesque but always beautiful. Electropop still penetrates scenes of character dissociation and liberation. As with his previous films, Dolan's painfully direct dialog and actor direction reminds me of Ingmar Bergman's very best work.

"Laurence Anyways" is all about psychological conflict, and we get to experience it so raw and real that it feels uncomfortable and oddly like an intrusion on the viewer's part; so fleshy are the characters, so meaningful the text. It's uncanny how the extremely stylized visuals and Dolan's directorial presence being so strong in every scene doesn't make the story seem any less real. Dolan has a rare ability of creating an enchantingly unreal ambience in a way that still allows us to believe everything we see. The drastic use of music, camera angles and colored lighting only amplify what we receive from the actors, it's almost as if the characters are coloring the screen with their emotions.

Melvil Poupaud is always good, but he is phenomenal as Laurence through his transition. The part was originally written for Louis Garrell- another great French actor- but I'm sure Poupaud made the intended star proud. It's nice to see Suzanne Clement in a very different role from that of the mellow schoolteacher she portrayed in Dolan's debut. Fred is complicated, troubled and conflicted, but so very deep. Clement won the Un Certain Regard Award for best actress at Cannes deservedly.

I described "Laurence Anyways" near-perfect in the first paragraph. The prefix "near-" comes from one simple flaw in the movie: it's about one hour too long. The story could have easily been told in a 100 minute film as opposed to the 160 minutes Dolan takes us through. This makes the emotional tones in the story stretch unchanged a bit too long throughout the flick. In most cases this would spell a disastrous fate for a movie as a whole, but everything unnecessary Dolan gives us is just so damned beautiful and honest one can't help but adore it as well. In the end an extra 60 minutes seems only the slightest imperfection in something staggeringly exceptional.